1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a vending machine and more specifically, to a detachable bill acceptor mounting arrangement for vending machine, which allows quick mounting/dismounting of the bill acceptor for easy performance of maintenance work.
2. Description of the Related Art
Following fast development of transportation and communication technology, non-shop business has become popular. Nowadays, various automatic vending machines (card dispensers, ticket vending machines, coin exchanging machines, etc.) are used everywhere to sell different products without serviceman. The use of automatic vending machines creates new marketing routes for the suppliers, saves much labor cost, and brings convenience to consumers. Further, an automatic vending machine has a bill acceptor provided on the inside for receiving and verifying bills.
A regular bill acceptor includes three units, i.e., the bill conveyer, the bill validator and the bill box. As shown in FIGS. 12 and 13, the bill acceptor A is affixed to the back side of the face panel B of the vending machine (not shown). The face panel B has a bill slot B1 into which the user inserts a bill. After insertion of the bill into the bill slot B1, the bill conveyer A1 of the bill acceptor A is started to carry the inserted bill forwards, and the bill validator (not shown) verifies the authenticity and value of the bill. After verification of the received bill to be true bill, the bill is carried into the bill box (not shown).
According to the aforesaid design, the bill acceptor A is fixedly fastened to the face panel B with screws C. In case a bill is jammed in the bill acceptor A, the mechanic must use a screwdriver to dismount the screws C, and then detach the bill acceptor A from the face panel B for troubleshooting. Further, the internal parts of the bill acceptor A, for example, the movable parts of the bill conveyer and the sensor of the bill validator tend to be covered with dust and dirt carried on the received bills. Accumulation of dust and dirt on the parts of the bill conveyer and the sensor of the bill validator A will affect normal functioning of the bill conveyer and the bill validator. When a cleaning work is necessary, the mechanic must dismount the screws C and then detach the bill acceptor A from the face panel B of the vending machine. It is complicated to mount and dismount the bill acceptor A. Further, the screws C may be lost easily during dismounting of the bill acceptor A from the face panel B.
Therefore, it is desirable to provide a detachable bill acceptor mounting arrangement that eliminates the aforesaid problem.